JP2014200135A - Cable guide and device using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technique for significantly reducing wear, dust emission, noise, and the like, generated due to contact of a guide mechanism of cables, or the like, used in a clean room.SOLUTION: A cable guide link having a pair of inner side plates forming a coupling structure for coupling with an adjacent cable guide link, a pair of outer side plates forming a structure for fitting in the coupling structure of the other adjacent, and an upper plate coupling the pair of outer side plates and having a hole to be fitted with a permanent magnet in the upper surface is resin molded integrally. A permanent magnet is fitted in the upper surface of the cable guide link and fixed in place so that a unific magnetic polarity is specified upward, and a plurality of cable guide links, each fitted with a permanent magnet, are coupled and configured like a duct in a cable guide.

Description

  The present invention relates to a guide mechanism such as a low dust generation, low noise, and space-saving cable, and an apparatus using the guide mechanism.

  As a conventional cable guide that can be used flexibly for a cable to be guided, one shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of Patent Document 1 is known. In FIG. 1, the structure of the cable guide link 1 is shown. In FIG. 2, the cable guide links 1 to be connected have a structure in which the cable guide links 1 are fitted to each other and a structure for limiting the angle at the time of turning, and a plurality of cable guide links 1 are connected so that they can function as a cable guide. ing.

  Non-patent document 1 describes that a long-stroke modular cable guide chain with a cable inserted can be floated magnetically by a magnet module held on both struts and moved in a non-contact state. Examples of cable guides with minimal wear are introduced. As shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, a magnet is attached to the side surface of the modular cable guide chain 61 for housing the cable, and the attractive force with the magnet modules 63 and 64 attached to the support columns 62 on both sides. Alternatively, a means for holding the height of the cable guide chain 61 in a non-contact manner using repulsive force is employed.

JP 2002-534950 A

LeviChain − Magnetic “floating” E−ChainSystem. Datasheet. [Online] igus (UK) Ltd. [retrieved on 2013-03-18]. Retrieved from the Internet: <URL: http://www.igus.co.uk /wpck/default.aspx?Pagename=overview_levichain&C=GB&L=en>

  In the magnetic disk inspection line according to the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 5, the presence or absence of surface irregularities of the magnetic disk is inspected in the clean room, or the magnetic recording / reproducing and erasing / reproducing with reference to the magnetic disk are performed. Inspection devices 41 and 43 for performing an operation to inspect the recording performance of the magnetic film are arranged. The cassettes, magazines 47 and the like in which the magnetic disks to be inspected are stored in these inspection apparatuses are transported from the stocker and supplied in front of each inspection apparatus, and are loaded into the inspection apparatuses by the magnetic disk transport robots 42 and 44. A rail 45 for running a transport device (shuttle) 40 for carrying out the cassette, magazine 47 and the like accommodated after the inspection of the magnetic disk is installed in the magnetic disk inspection line. Between the transfer device (shuttle) 40 and the power supply unit 50 on the ground side, a cable duct 10 that houses power supply, control cables, and supply / exhaust tubes for the transfer device (shuttle) 40 is laid.

Here, the cable duct 10 is assembled into a foldable cable duct 10 as shown in FIG. 2 by fitting a large number of cable guide links 1 as shown in FIG. The cable guide link 1 is connected to the adjacent link 1 by a connecting rotary shaft 4 so as to be rotatable with respect to each other. Each cable guide link does not rotate outward from parallel, and inward only rotates to a certain angle. As a result, a constant R is maintained at the folded portion of the cable duct 10, and the upper cable duct 10 maintains a linear arrangement. However, when the stroke becomes longer, the straight portion is bent by the own weight of the cable duct 10 and comes into contact with the lower cable duct 10 as shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 shows a cross section of a portion where the cable guide link 1 is connected, and shows an embodiment in which a plurality of cables 20 are housed inside.

  The cable duct 10 is fixed with one end connected to the power supply unit 50 as shown in FIG. 5 and is laid on the ground in parallel with the rail 45, and the middle part is folded back into a hairpin shape. The other end of the cable duct 10 is folded and laid on the cable duct 10, and the other end is coupled to the transport device (shuttle) 40. A power supply, control cable, and air supply / exhaust tube are wired between the power supply unit 50 and the transfer device (shuttle) 40 through the inside of the cable duct 10.

  With the above configuration, when the transport device (shuttle) 40 shown in FIG. 5 travels on the rail 45, the cable duct 10 is driven in the following manner. That is, when the transport device (shuttle) 40 travels to the left from the position shown in FIG. 5, the position of the hairpin bent portion sequentially shifts to the left and moves from the solid line to the broken line as in the caterpillar movement. Thereby, it is possible to safely support and guide the power supply and the control cable without dragging or tangling the control cable.

  However, when the cable duct 10 moves, the outer peripheral surface of each cable guide link 1 constituting the cable duct 10 only contacts the ground without rubbing against the ground. The inner peripheral surface of the guide link 1 slides so as to rub against the inner peripheral surface of the cable guide link 1 in the other part of the cable duct 10.

  When the transfer device (shuttle) 40 is moved at a high speed, dust and noise are generated due to sliding between the inner peripheral surfaces of the cable guide links 1 constituting the cable duct 10, which is a problem. In particular, it was necessary to take measures against the problem of dust generation that deteriorated the environment in the clean room. For this reason, conventionally, the contact portion is made of a wear-resistant resin, or, for example, as shown in FIG. 4B, a roller 30 is installed between the upper and lower cable ducts 10 as rolling contact, Measures have been taken to reduce friction between the inner peripheral surfaces of the guide links 1.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and avoids sliding between the inner peripheral surfaces of the cable guide link 1 that occurs when the transporting device (shuttle) 40 travels, thereby generating dust and noise. It aims at providing the cable guide which suppresses drastically, and an apparatus using the same.

  In order to solve the above problems, in the present invention, a pair of inner side plates that form a connection structure for connecting to an adjacent cable guide link and a structure for fitting the connection structure of the cable guide link adjacent to the other are formed. A cable guide link having a pair of outer side plates and an upper plate formed by connecting the pair of outer side plates and having a hole into which a permanent magnet is fitted on the upper surface is integrally molded with resin, and unified to the upper plate of the cable guide link A permanent magnet is fitted and bonded so that the specified magnetic polarity is upward, and a plurality of cable guide links into which the permanent magnet is fitted are connected to form a cable. A guide was constructed.

  In order to solve the above problems, in the present invention, a cable guide configured in a duct shape by connecting a plurality of cable guide links in which the permanent magnets are fitted has an inner circumferential surface on which the permanent magnets are fitted. Folding with a constant R so as to be a surface, a repulsive force of the permanent magnet fitted in each cable guide link creates a gap between the folded cable guide and the lower cable guide. A cable guide as described above, which is a characteristic, was constructed.

  The main feature of the cable guide of the present invention is that a permanent magnet for levitating the upper cable duct is provided on the inner peripheral surface side of all the cable guide links, and no special structure is required on the side surface. Therefore, since the cable guide of the present invention occupies less space, there is an advantage that the degree of freedom in equipment design using the cable guide is high and it is easy to adopt.

1B is a front view of the cable guide link 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1A is a top view of the cable guide link 1, FIG. 1D is a right side view of the cable guide link 1, and FIG. 1 (C) is a cross-sectional view of the cable guide link 1 along AA ′. It is explanatory drawing of the cable guide comprised by fitting many pieces of the cable guide links 1 of this invention mutually, and having comprised it in the shape of a duct. It is an example of sectional drawing of the part to which the cable guide link 1 of this invention was connected. FIG. 4A is a view for explaining an example in which conventional cable ducts overlap and slide so that the inner peripheral surfaces rub against each other. FIG. 4B is a diagram for explaining a conventional countermeasure example that reduces friction between the inner peripheral surfaces of the cable guide link 1. FIG. 4C is a diagram illustrating an example in which the cable duct of the present invention can be supported in the air in a non-contact state by the repulsive force of the permanent magnet. It is a figure explaining the cable duct applied to the conveying apparatus (shuttle) in a clean room. It is a figure explaining the modular type cable guide chain disclosed by nonpatent literature 1.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  1B is a front view of the cable guide link 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1A is a top view of the cable guide link 1, FIG. 1D is a right side view of the cable guide link 1, and FIG. 1 (C) represents a cross-sectional view of the cable guide link 1 along AA ′.

  The cable guide link 1 includes a pair of inner side plates 2 that fit inside the cable guide link adjacent to the right side and a pair of outer side plates 3 that fit outside the cable guide link adjacent to the left side. The inner side plate 2 is formed with a connecting rotary shaft 4 for connecting to a cable guide link adjacent to the right side. Further, the outer side plate 3 is formed with a bearing through-hole 5 into which the connecting rotation shaft 4 of the cable guide link adjacent to the left side is fitted.

  Further, the cable guide link 1 is formed with an upper plate 6 for connecting the pair of outer side plates 3, and a circular hole 7 is formed in the center of the upper plate 6 in the embodiment of FIG. A round permanent magnet 70 having substantially the same shape as the hole 7 is fitted and fixed by adhesion.

Further, two cross members 8 and 9 that are integrally formed with the pair of outer side plates 3 and that have the overlapping section 12 are formed at the bottom of the cable guide link 1.
The cable guide link 1 having the above structure is manufactured by integral molding by resin molding. Examples of the material include ABS resin and polyamide resin, but are not particularly limited thereto.

  A round permanent magnet 70 having substantially the same shape as the shape of the hole 7 is fitted into the hole 7 of each integrally formed cable guide link 1, for example, with the front side being unified to either the S pole or the N pole, and fixed by adhesion. . Each cable guide link 1 configured in this manner is made by using the elasticity of the resin to slightly squeeze the pair of inner side plates 2 and connect the rotation guide shaft of the cable guide link 1 to the through hole 5 of the adjacent cable guide link 1. 4 is inserted, and the cable guide links are connected one after another to constitute the cable duct 10.

  In the cable duct 10, a power guide, a communication cable, a compressed air tube, an exhaust tube 20, etc., are spread out by pushing the two cross members 8, 9 formed on the lower side of the sectional view shown in FIG. 1 is housed in a guide channel 11 formed in the interior of 1.

  The cable duct 10 configured as described above can be folded back while maintaining a predetermined radius R in one direction as shown in FIG. 2, but the permanent magnet 70 attached to the upper surface of each cable guide link 1 is the same. It faces to face the magnetic pole. Then, due to the repulsive force between the permanent magnets 70, the inner peripheral surface of the cable duct 10 that is folded up and down is not in contact, and the upper cable duct 10 is brought into the air in a non-contact state as shown in FIG. 4C. Can be supported.

  The permanent magnet fitted into the upper plate of the cable guide link 1 is not limited to a round permanent magnet, but may be a square shape or a donut shape, or a plurality of the same shape may be arranged.

  By using the cable guide of the present invention, sliding between the inner peripheral surfaces of the upper and lower cable ducts 10 can be almost eliminated, so that dust generation and noise can be greatly reduced. In addition, the cable guide disclosed in Non-Patent Document 1 requires a space for installing rail-shaped permanent magnets that face each other on both sides of the upper and lower cable ducts, and the width of the entire cable guide mechanism is wide. The cable guide according to the present invention is characterized in that the space and width necessary for installation are the same as those of the conventional cable guide.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cable guide link 2 Inner side board 3 Outer side board 4 Connection rotary shaft 5 Through hole 6 for bearings Upper board 7 Holes 8 and 9 for permanent magnet insertion Cross member 10 Cable duct 11 Guide channel 20 Power cable, communication cable, compressed air Tube, exhaust tube, etc. 40 Transport device (shuttle)
41, 43 Inspection device 42, 44 Transport robot 45 Rail 46 Support column 50 Power supply unit 61 Modular cable guide chain 62 Support column 63, 64 Magnet module 70 Permanent magnet

Claims (5)

A pair of inner side plates forming a connection structure for connecting to adjacent cable guide links, a pair of outer side plates forming a structure for fitting the connection structure of cable guide links adjacent to the other, and the pair of outer side plates A cable guide link having an upper plate formed with a hole for fitting a permanent magnet on the upper surface by connecting the side plates is integrally molded with resin,
A permanent magnet is fitted and fixed so that the magnetic polarity specified in the upper plate of the cable guide link is upward,
A cable guide characterized in that a plurality of cable guide links fitted with the permanent magnets are connected to form a duct shape. A cable guide configured by connecting a plurality of cable guide links in which the permanent magnets are fitted and formed in a duct shape is folded back while maintaining a constant R so that a surface in which the permanent magnets are fitted becomes an inner peripheral surface,
2. The cable guide according to claim 1, wherein a gap is generated between the folded cable guide and a lower cable guide by a repulsive force of a permanent magnet fitted into each cable guide link. Two cross members having overlapping sections are formed on the bottom surface side facing the top surface into which the permanent magnet of the cable guide link is fitted,
2. The cable guide according to claim 1, wherein a guide channel that houses various cables is configured by the pair of inner side plates, the upper plate, and the two cross members of the cable guide link.   Permanent magnets that are fitted and bonded to the upper plate of the cable guide link so that the magnetic pole properties specified in a unified manner face upward are round, square, donut, or the like. The cable guide according to claim 1, wherein the cable guides are arranged individually. A moving body that moves within a certain range;
A stationary body connected to the mobile body;
The cable guide according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the movable body and the fixed body are connected.
Having a device.

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